Seam construction for garments



July 18, 1950 STANLEY 2,515,321

SEAM CONSTRUCTION FOR GARMENTS Filed 001;. 20, 1949 Zhwentor Z VGE/VE 57/1 /VL r (Ittomeg Patented July 18, 1950 SEAM CONSTRUCTION FOR GARMENTS Eugene Stanley, Greensboro, N. 0., assignor to Blue Bell, Inc., Greensboro, N. 0., a corporation of North Carolina Application October 20, 1949, Serial No. 122,379

1 Claim.

Seams are customarily formed in garments by arranging the two pieces along the line of the seam with their outer or pattern sides together and their edges in register and stitching them together with a line of stitches more or less inside the edge depending upon the desired width of the so-called seam allowance which is reserved for size adjustments. When the two pieces are opened up so that one becomes a continuation of the other, the seam allowances normally remain more or less in a position projecting out from the inside of the seam. An operation is therefore necessary to turn the seam allowances back upon the inner faces of their respective pieces. This operation, which is sometimes called seam bursting, is 9, pressing operation and requires a heated iron and means for dampening which is usually done by steam in factory production.

It is an object of this invention to dispense with the need for this seam bursting operation. To effect this, the invention contemplates a construction of scam in which the stitching biases the seam allowances to an open position in which they are turned back oppositely flat against the inner faces of their respective pieces or body portions.

Specifically, as compared with the conventional seam in which the stitching is through two layers of cloth and the stitches are in the plane of the cloth on each side of the seam, in the instant construction the stitching is through three layers and is transverse to the plane of the cloth.

To obtain this result, the seam allowance of the top piece is turned back prior to the stitching and a line of stitchin is sewed through the three layers just inside the folding edge. The bottom piece is then relatively reversed or turned about the line of stitching through 180 or until it becomes in effect a continuation of the other piece. Thus the two folding edges are left overlapped and the stitching remains transverse and is externally covered and concealed by the outside layer. Furthermore, since the two seam allowances are stitched to the top piece inside their folding edges, they are biased into the plane of the top piece in their initial opposing or open position. Since the seam allowances normally assume the open position, no seam bursting operation is required.

For a further explanation of the invention, reference is made to the accompanying drawings in which Fig. 1 is a fragmentary perspective of two pieces of cloth in an intermediate stage in the formation of a seam, and

Fig. 2 is a similar view of the two pieces at the completion of the seam.

In the formation of the seam, the two body pieces of cloth I and 2, which are to be joined, are laid flat one on the other with their edges along which the seam is to be formed together. The disposition of these two pieces is as usual,

with their inner faces exposed and their outer faces or right sides in contact.

Preliminary to running the pieces through the sewing machine, the operator turns the edge of piece I back along the line of the eventual seam, forming the seam allowance 3. Then the pieces are sewed just inside the turned back edge, the stitching 4 thus formed passing through the three layers, as shown in Fig. 1.

The piece. 2 is then reversed, being turned through the dotted position of Fig. 1 in the direction of the arrow 5 to the position shown in Fig. 2 in which, except for the resultant overlap, it becomes a continuation of piece I. The extension of piece 2 beyond the stitching 4, which is seam allowance 6, remains in the plane of the piece I, due to the stitching, and hence lies flat against the piece 2 in its reversed position. Thus the two seam allowances 3 and 6 are initially formed in open position and are retained in that position without any tendency to close.

The stitches are externally covered by the body piece 2. Since the stitches go through the seam allowance 3, the piece I is prevented from folding on the line of the stitches under the stress of opposing pull on the pieces I and 2 and the overlap is maintained. In other words, the stitches are constrained to the transverse direction, irrespective of pull exerted on the seam.

While the seam shown in the drawings and above described has utility for any class of garment, it has especial utility in factory made garments of cheaper grades, such as work clothes. The type of stitch is immaterial, and various departures from the precise construction shown in the drawings may be made within the scope of the invention defined in the following claim.

What is claimed is For garments, a seam construction having normally open seam allowances comprising two body portions meeting to form a seam each having its edge turned back to form a seam allowance on the same relative side of the garment, the two portions overlapping at the line of the seam, and

stitching following the line of scam and passing through the two seam allowances and the intervening body portion and securing one seam allowance and its body portion together and to the overlapped edge of the other seam allowance, the other body portion being free of said stitching. EUGENE STANLEY.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,534,563 Barker Apr. 21, 1925 2,024,971 Le Roy Dec. 17, 1935 

